I want to reflect on the total physical response method that I witnessed last Friday during class observation.  I do not want to go into detail on the actual procedures of the method because other students have done so already and I do not want to beat a dead horse. I think that in my case it would be more beneficial to write about my reaction to the method itself.

My experience with language learning has been for the most part incredibly standard. The institutions that taught me Russian used methods that were standard in the Soviet Union and continue to be used today in present day Russia. These methods consist mainly of rote learning (memorization of grammar rules, vocabulary words and dialogues), writing essays, reading texts of ever-increasing difficulty and doing never ending grammar exercises. I supplemented these techniques by having constant interaction with the local Russian population in the cities where I lived and over the course of 8 years of living in Russia, I have been able to gain a high level of fluency.

A lot of the techniques that I have witnessed since I have started studying at MIIS are completely new to me and I must admit that as a result of their newness, I sometimes incorrectly form biased opinions mainly because that wasn’t the way I was taught. Fortunately, I am starting to change my mind about much of what I thought I knew about language learning and teaching. The total physical response technique is one example of a method that I wished I had introduced to a lot earlier. Professor Shaw and some of the other more experienced students have stated several times that language teaching is all about variety. I cannot agree more! There are times in my language learning history when I would have like more variety.

I should reiterate that I do not think it is possible to gain fluency in a language with these types of techniques alone but they are a great way to end a language unit and or bring some fun into the language-learning environment.

Sincerely,

Sergio